Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Beijing Has Met The Enemy, But Maybe Not

For now, the story that’s attracting a great deal
of attention abroad is the announcement that China’s capital city is seeking to
encourage its residents to look more carefully for espionage by offering
substantial cash awards—up to 50,000 RMB for leads that end up thwarting
foreign spies, and up to 10 times that amount for actions that “make an
especially major or special contribution” [贡献特别突出的线索] to stopping intelligence operations against China.

Lost amidst all the outrage and accusations
of paranoia by some over this announcement is why Beijing is doing that and what it says
about policy challenges for some here in China.

In fact, the article in Beijing
Daily that carried the news of the reward system presents a lengthy explanation of the reasons behind this move to get residents involved. The logic that's presented actually makes a lot of sense, which isn't surprising since their ranks tend to be composed of some of the best and brightest officials.

Beijing, the piece contends, is “the national
political center, cultural center, science and technology innovation center,
and center for communication with the outside world—the first choice of foreign
intelligence agencies for subversion, suborning, and theft.” Security officials
there argue that “it is because of the special status and characteristics of
Beijing that the task of safeguarding national security and the social and
political stability of the capital is more arduous”, and assistance from the
public is needed. With so many potential targets for intelligence-gathering (as
well as a large if dwindling foreign presence in China’s capitol), offering
cash incentives to Beijing’s residents is thought to be an encouragement for
them to stay alert against anyone looking to steal secrets, especially foreigners.

That the State Security people have had to
justify this move is itself interesting, if only because it’s rare for them to
do so publicly. More on that below.

It’s also important to note that it’s only
Beijing and its particular State Security branch that’s thus far offering these
economic incentives to spy-stoppers—not the Chinese government as a whole nor
the entire State Security apparatus, nor other departments, bureaus and
agencies, all of which have officers looking out for leaks and espionage. There's a National Security Day, but the reward system isn't national.

The new reward system is likely being put
into operation because Beijing’s residents are usually either too busy working
or commuting to spend time watching for foreign agents. The huge number of
migrants who toil in China’s capitol aren’t interested in their surroundings so
much as making a living for themselves and family members back home. Like so
many policy announcements here, the effort isn’t to alarm citizens but to rouse
them from their apolitical slumber. And the way to do that in Beijing at least, in the eyes of authorities there, is to offer the possibility of money.

But that's Beijing: It's the Sun in
the Chinese political universe, with the provinces treated as mere planets in
various orbits. Still, it’s also only one place. Other officials are preparing for
National Security Day differently.

For example, a university in Jiangsu has been
employing posters to alert staff and students to help safeguard China’s secrets
from outsiders, using examples of what they need to keep a look out for.

In one sense, this poster campaign is another
attempt by Chinese officials to mobilize the masses [“一切为了群众，一切依靠群众”]--to get them interested in the affairs of State. People—in
this instance, students and others on university campuses—are needed to watch
out for foreigners who some authorities are convinced wish to do China harm.

But this campaign is also a case-study of
what seems to be bothering at least some people in Chinese leadership circles. China’s National Security Day reflects the view of many here that there are
real enemies abroad and at home. At the same time, the campaign hints that at least some in Beijing
think that the security services aren’t doing as good of a job as they should
be in protecting the country’s secrets. After all, there was never a need for a
special day or for special payouts until rather recently. As Beijing Daily duly notes, even China’s State Security admits that it
needs citizens to assist them in stopping foreign intelligence agents from
“exploiting existing loopholes” [无隙可乘] and
acquire information. This strategy doesn't demonstrate that the security mob is dominating Chinese decisions, but that it's having trouble implementing them.

Is the threat from foreign spies growing
then? Perhaps it really is. Are Chinese security officials concerned about their own
capability to counter that threat? It appears very much so.

Securing the borders, guarding cyberspace, shielding the nation's secrets--these are all tough tasks in the post-modern world for any government, even as one as focused as China's. But that Beijing itself thinks it needs to
pay residents to be alert patriots--and that both national and local
authorities continues to employ posters to get others to simply pay attention—probably aren’t
good signs for anyone—for foreigners, or for the officials in charge of
security work here. You have to wonder who the real enemy here may turn out to
be.